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Southern Vermont's Antiques Week:
Five Shows in Four Days

by David Hewett

The Green Mountain State holds its own version of the Granite State's Antiques Week on the last week in September through October 1.

The Vermont version doesn't begin with a blockbuster American auction, and it doesn't attract tour buses packed with prospective buyers from Texas (they, too, have been missing from New Hampshire in the last two years). Even the largest Vermont event has nowhere near the number of exhibitors as have the events just east of the Connecticut River.

What the Vermont edition does have, however, is a broad range of decently priced country antiques and collectibles; the best complimentary food on preview night (as judged by our resident gourmet specialist, admittedly an amateur); and exhibitors who persist in imaginative displays of their wares, sometimes in impossible settings or deviously situated booths.

Tempted? Then pencil them in on next year's calendar because attendance does seem to be dropping at these purely New England events, conducted in such unlikely venues as a regional theater's dressing rooms, coatrooms, and off-stage cubbyholes; high school gymnasium floors with limited-access aisles; two multipurpose ski lodges; and a skating rink.

All that the events really share is their Vermont setting (and the odd dealer who persists in exhibiting in as many shows as humanly possible). Two are put on by local show promoters; one is put on by a group of dealers; another is run by two local women to benefit a high school organization (we think); and the most successful is handled by a group of committees organized around a highly praised small-town theater, fired by a spark plug (officially called the show chair) named Patti Prairie.

As noted above, attendance has been on the decline for the last few years at all venues, though Patti Prairie reported a new high in the $50 per person preview night ticket sales for 2006 (but there's a reason for that, as you will see), and manager Phyllis Carlson said her early gate was up 40% from 2005, which was down considerably from prior years.

The same faces appear and reappear in the lines throughout the week; sometimes the attendee becomes an exhibitor at the next show, sometimes it's the other way around. If there's anything jeopardizing the future of these shows, it's what one exhibitor noted, "I'd sure like to see more younger faces among the crowds." That's something that worries us all.

-Overview

The Weston Antiques Show is the oldest, most polished, and most organized of the five with its many support committees and large advertising budget. For most exhibitors, it's also the most expensive to do. Figure setup time, four days of show, and pack-out and travel time, and expenses can skyrocket. Yet most exhibitors are multiple-year veterans. The Weston area is filled with wealthy homeowners, and they do support the show.

There is buyable merchandise at Weston, despite any impression to the contrary we may have given. Do go on gala preview night if you can at all afford it. Dress up and rub elbows with the wealthy—the food and drink alone are well worth the price—and you may also find just what you're looking for from among the exhibitors' booths.

As for the rest, all deserve a hard, long look. Some very nice items appeared at all of them, and if you come for one, stay for them all. There are exhibitors at this run of shows who don't exhibit anywhere else, and that alone makes the time and trip well worthwhile.

Weston Antiques Show

The Weston Antiques Show is the granddaddy of the lot, celebrating its 48th show in 2006. It opened with a gala preview at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 28, and ran through 4 p.m. on October 1.

The $50 gala preview ticket gets the purchaser into all 56 booths on all levels of the theater, all the wine or bar drinks one can handle and still function (hopefully), and entree at the serving stations situated on all levels. Patti Prairie and her group of forceful followers are magnificent at twisting the arms of all the area's top-level chefs at the very pricey inns to offer up their samplings at the various serving stations.

What did this year's preview ticket holder get? Try smoked salmon rosettes with Boursin and capers; tenderloin with horseradish cream; shrimp with green curry; tenderloin with blue cheese sauce and real violets; crabmeat in puff pastries; caramelized onions and lamb chunks with fresh mint; cucumber smoked salmon mousse; escargot and herbed butter in puff pastry; black mission figs and blue cheese wrapped in bacon; blue cheese mousse on pork tenderloin with poached apple and pear; plus cheese and fruit trays and large bowls full of iced shrimp.

Oh, the antiques? Right, there were some antiques for sale too. They can be seen (and are described) in the captioned photos. A few things sold at the preview, but that night was devoted mostly to socializing and viewing. Sales were quite good the next two days, several exhibitors said later.

For more information, telephone (802) 824-5307; Web site (www.westonantiquesshow.org).

Okemo Antiques Show

On Friday, September 29, 2006, two shows were held a few miles apart in Ludlow. The first, the 13th annual Okemo Antiques Show, opened at 3:30 p.m. at a ski lodge at the Okemo Mountain Resort.

Abbott House Associates, Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, managed the two-day event. The show's first day is labeled a preview party, which means that for $15 the ticket buyer can partake of the various food trays set out in two areas and partake of the free wines.

It's not the Weston show spread, but not much reaches that level. The caterers at Okemo provided a very decent variety of vegetable and cheese dips, fruit plates, and other assorted foods. The wine was poured from larger bottles, rather than the case lots of merlot and chardonnay at Weston, but there were no complaints.

Sales began as soon as the doors opened on Friday and continued briskly until we left for the next venue.

For more information, telephone (717) 259-9480.